Men wait for news on the day after the disaster

THE CORISHMAN AND CORNISH TELEGRAPH.

OCTOBER 29 1919

LEVANT MINERS CRUSHED.

CRUSHED.
 COLLAPSE OF MAN ENGINE
ENGINE

IN SHAFT

THIRTY ONE MEN KILLED

KILLED

THRILLING STORIES OF RESCUE AND ESCAPE.

The shock and horror following the news that three Levant miners
had been killed in the shaft on Monday, has changed to horror and
dismay as the death toll has mounted each day.

A certainty that twenty men have been crushed to death and that
eleven missing men have probably shared their fate - short of a
miracle happening - makes it more terrible even than the Wheal
Owles disaster, when in January, 1893, twenty men were drowned by
holing into a pool
pool of water in a neighboring mine.

The tragedy was the work of an instance. Something snapped -

perhaps an iron cap or bolt - and what as been described as a living
pillar of men, dropped down the man engine shaft, crushing many to
death, mangling more with
with debris of breaking wood and metal - the
beam of the man engine, the ladder ways in the side of the main
shaft, and the platforms cut in the side of the shaft.

Imagine square wood beams 40 feet long, braced together in long

stems and held perpendicularly 1,800 feet in height in a mine shaft.

Jutting out of this beam which moves up twelve feet and then down
twelve feet like the Cornish pump which raises the water and drains
the mine, are steps. On each step was a man, and from 130 to 150
were standing as a human pillar on this structure, or waiting on the
side platforms to take the next step, as they ascended from their
work. About twelve had stepped off in safety on reaching the surface.
When the man engine ascends and is at the top of the stroke as on
Monday 2--30
Monday (the men having completed their day's work about 2
p.m.), the machine was practically full of men, each one, as it were
standing above the head of the other on the projecting step. An
instant later all these miners would have stepped off and paused on
the side platforms, or sollors, for the next up lift of the engine. That
instant meant life or death to thirty or more men.

The scene was indescribable. The rod released from its top cracked
in several places, and the structure crashed down in a mass of
debris. As its foot was at the bottom of the shaft it could only have
dropped the twelve feet if it had not snapped in other places. The
worst chokage was in the upper part of the shaft.

Our representatives on the spot on Monday and Tuesday gleaned the

facts
facts with great difficulty, because of the blockade and uncertainty.
But they have interviewed survivors and witnessed the intense
anxiety and grief of relatives and the heroism of the relief parties,
which include one miner who escaped by a leap in the shaft
shaft and
remained all day down the mine helping to extricate his buried and
maimed comrades.

One entombed miner ( Leonard Semmens) was a live on Wednesday

but his dead body was recovered on Thursday morning.

Terrible as this disaster is, in point of numbers,

numbers, it still falls short of the
record Cornish mining tragedy - The drowning of 53 men by a
waterspout which flooded the shafts of East Wheal Rose in 1847.

At Dolcoath in September 1893 R. H. Davies was rescued after 40

hours entombment his seven companions being killed. It was hoped
at first that some of the now missing Levant men would be extricated
alive, but as the days pass, it seems impossible that any one could
live in that narrow hole chocked with debris. If men are cut off in a
level by falling ground
ground they have a chance of life by rescuers boring
through the ground and passing food and drink through pipes; but
apparently at Levant all the missing men were on the steps at the
time of the crush.

The Home Secretary, Col. Robyns, a lord of the mine Sir Clifford
Clifford
Cory M.P., and Mt Ben Tillett M.P., Secretary of the Dockers Union,
to which most of the Levant miners belong, have sent messages of
Sympathy with those bereaved and injured in this terrible time of
suspense and grief.

His Majesty's Inspector, Mr Boydell,

Boydell, is co-
co-operating with the
executive on the spot. Levant is one of the oldest working mines in
the county, and was the last to use the man-
man-engine, which has been
regularly inspected and the materials renewed at various times. It is
also the last of the
the mines worked on a cost-
cost-book, or in-
in-limited liability
system.

Levant is perched on the edge of the cliffs, and its tin and copper are
raised from a mile and more under the sea bed of the Atlantic. It was
managed for many years by the late Major Richard White
White up to the
time of his death; and the late Mr Francis Oats was the chairman.
Major Freethy Oats succeeded his father. The committee include Mr
T Robins Bolitho, Mr J C. Tregarthen, Mr Henry Olds, and Mr Harry
Rowe of Camborne.

The mine was on the brink of being reconstructed and a new vertical
shaft with gig for lowering and raising men, formed part of the
scheme.

Hundreds of Cornishmen in foreign and colonial mining camps will

read with unspeakable sorrow of this calamity in the village of
Pendeen to old
old comrades and to a mine in which they worked in by
gone days.
The one bright spot is the splendid spirit of the staff, men, clergy, the
Nonconformist helpers, and the executive and men of the
neighboring mine in this hour of trial. It will probable be found
found that
several have won the King Edward Medal for Bravery; and the
endurance of such a man as Captain Carter, who has remained at his
post three days without sleep, speaks for itself. Captain Ben
Nicholas, the manager, has directed operations from the start,
start,
supported by his chief Major Oats, the agent and neighbours; and
ambulance men from the Camborne district also rushed to the
rescue.

The full tale has not yet been told; but we give our readers the tragic
story as it has been gleaned by our staff.

After
After the flooding of Wheal Owles, "The Cornishman" first published
and supported the suggestion of the late Mr Joseph Martin H.M.
Inspector of Mines, that a County Miners Benevolent Fund should be
provided. Thousands of pounds were promptly subscribed.

Since then the Government placed the burden of liability on the

employers, who usually insure the Companies, and bereaved
relatives are not dependent upon the sympathy and generosity of the
public.

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HOW THE ENTOMBED MINERS WERE

FOUND

From
From an early period on Monday night the one absorbing topic at the
mine was the prospect of rescuing the entombed miner, who was
known to have been alive when the first imprisoned men were
rescued, and for whom deliverance such strenuous efforts had
unremittingly
unremittingly been made.
Up till almost the last moment, it was believed that the poor fellow in
question was Leonard Semmens, but the sequel proved that surmise
was wrong and he turned out to be Nicholas Hocking Thomas, aged
about 20 from Pendeen.

Without a pause
pause night or day the endeavors to rescue him were
almost frantically pursued, and everything that skill, courage and
enthusiasm could accomplish was done to effect a rescue. But the
work was difficult and dangerous - dangerous not only to those who
were conducting
conducting the operation, but also to the man himself unless
due precautions were taken to prevent the debris falling away.

The volunteer party from East Pool (Camborne) were among those
who were conducting this work, and the fact that groans could be
heard coming
coming from the man as late as two o-
o-clock on Wednesday
afternoon spurred them on in their efforts. From that moment,
however no sound was heard proceeding from him. But the work
never relaxed, and at about 8-
8-30 on Wednesday night, they found
him near the addit,
addit, in a standing position on the "sollar" as the
platform at the side of the shaft is called.

Dr. Richmond was in attendance but the poor fellow breathed his last
before he could be taken to the dry.

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LUCKY ESCAPE

Our representative had an interview with Mr John Grenfell; (son of

John Edward Grenfell, one of the shift bosses who unfortunately was
killed.) Mr Grenfell himself was amongst those who had stepped off
the man-
man-engine before the accident happened. He also said that all
the boys
boys had been saved in this manner and explained technically
why this should have been so. He considers that between 40 and 50
escaped thus, and therefore, about 100 men would have been left on
the man engine when the irons snapped.

Mr Grenfell said that two steps beneath him on the man-

man-engine was
mr Howard Carbis, perceiving the sudden descent, leaped for the
level, which he succeeded in reaching and thus saved his life.

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A PLUCKY MINER

In the course of a short conversation with our representative.

representative. Mr
Grenfell was induced to give a few particulars which came under his
personal observation at the time. He spoke with the utmost reserve,
and maters reflecting on his personal courage and effects could only
be got from him by pumping.

For instance
instance one who was present at the interview and was in
possession of the facts said that "Mr Grenfell was the first man to go
down to the assistance of his colleagues".

"No", replied Mr Grenfell, with most becoming modesty, "If you put in
anything, say that
that William Oats and John Grenfell where the first two
who went doen after the accident, from the surface."

Again it was only when someone suggested that Mr Grenfell was

minimising his share in the work, did it emerge - and then only by
confirmation of a statement
statement made - that he was lowered down by
rope.

" But there were many others by to help" added Mr Grenfell "and we
were able to send up Thomas Maddern. After that the rope was again
sent down and I was lowered another 36ft. A lot od debris came
down around
around me, but here I found Jos. Hosking, who was shouting
out for light and assistance.
When he had been sent up I found I could not do anything more for
those below, owing to the chokage in the shaft; even though I could
hear someone groaning. This must undoubtedly
undoubtedly have been Nicholas
Hocking Thomas, who was rescued under such dramatic conditions
on Wednesday Night.

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A TYPICAL RESCUE

Early on Monday night one man was discovered in the shaft tightly
pinned in by timber, which had caught him
him against his leg and arm.
Efforts were at once made to rescue him, but this work took three or
four hours. Meanwhile it was discovered that there were three or four
others some distance above, whose release depended upon that of
the man below. Eventually the first man was got out, badly injured,
and then came the turn of the others. These had been more lucky.
They had escaped practically unhurt, and two of them walked to the
'dry' changed their clothes and walked home.

As has been stated the majority of the

the missing men - 25 were said to
be unaccounted for-
for- are near the mouth of the shaft. About 20 were
brought up during the night.

It is stated that no men who were below the 140 fathom level were
killed.

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A MARVELOUS ESCAPE

A graphic description
description of the accident, and its terrible consequences
was supplied by Robert Penaluna, a young St Just miner who was on
the man-
man-engine at the time of the breakage.
"I was coming up on the man engine" he said "three steps below the
150 fathom level. The engine was full of men. We had travelled up
part of the way between one sollor and another when the engine
dropped a little put then picked herself up again. Then she fell away
to the bottom. I was thrown on my chest upon the sollor. My chum on
the next sollor
sollor below (Charlie Freestone, aged 25 of St Just) had his
feet caught between the step on which he stood and the sollor, and
was swung upside down. "

" I was not hurt except that a piece of timber struck me on the leg. For
about three hours I was down there
there before I could come up. Then i
walked up the ladder through the pumping engine shaft, to the
surface. Before that I picked up Freestone, who was suffering from
shock, and dragged him through a manhole on to the sollor upon
which I was standing. He fainted
fainted in my arms. We got him back to the
150 level shaft and men of the afternoon shift helped to drag
Freestone to the surface with ropes. When the engine broke it was a
tremendous crash for in dropping she knocked away timber and
everything else in her path.
path. The engine rod on which we were
traveling shook violently. The smash gave a terrible shook to us all,
and everybody lost heart and nerve entirely. The screams of some of
the men were awful, as they gripped the rod like grim death. A
number of them had the
the presence to the nearest place, and saved
themselves by the skin of their teeth.

I wouldn't go through an experience like that again for the world, "
concluded Penaluna.

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BOYS TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE

Willie Lawry, a bright young lad, and

and son of Mr Richard Lawry of
Queen Street, St. Just, who started work underground only about
three weeks ago had a very narrow escape. He was fortunate in
escaping serious injury, but was suffering from shock when taken
home in the Penzance ambulance car. In describing his experience
he said one man lay across him dead, and the body had to be
removed before he could be rescued.

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THE LAST BODY RECOVERED

The body of the last of the victims, Edwin Trathen, was discovered on
Saturday morning
morning and brought to the surface from the 80 fathom
level.

The deceased was superintendent of Bojewyan Sunday School and

organist. He was also a class leader. Within about twelve months no
fewer than four funerals have left Mr Trathen's home his wife having
died about a year age.

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THE MAYORS FUND

In response tp the appeal of the Mayor of Penzance (Ald. George

Poole) the following amounts have been received.

The Mayor £10 10s 0d.

Webber & Roberts £5 5 0

Employees of do. £2 5 0

H. H. Cannon £ 5 0 0

Sister McClement £1 0 0
C. Watts & Co. Plymouth £2 2 0

J. Baldwin Haddon £5 0 0

Stewart B Haddon £1 1 0

Thomas Richards, Bellair Madron £5 5 0

R. B. Axworthy £5 5 0

T.H. & J.B. Cornish

Cornish £5 5 0

The "Western Morning News" fund on Tuesday tottaled nearly £1,200

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WHY THE FUND IS NEEDED

The following is the official list of the dead and their dependents. Age
where known
known in brackets.

NAME ADDRESS DEPENDANTS

J Vingoe
Trembath , (25) Bojewyan Mother
single

Edwin T.
3 children, 2
Trathen, (41) Bojewyan
under 16 years
widower

Mathew R.?
Bojewyan widow
Mathews (36)

Widowed Mother
Wm. J Harvey,
Boscaswell and sister over
(43) single
16

John Kevern, Carn View-

View- Widow
 (44) Terrace,
Pendeen

Nicholas Widow & 9

Hocking Truthwall Children (&
Thomas (20) under 13 years

Widow + 7
children. (
youngest aged
William John Cresswell-
Cresswell- 15, working five
George (47) Terrace, months at
at
Levant, and one
aged 16
afflicted).

Widow, + 9
John E. Grenfell Cresswell
children (6
(52) Terrace
dependant)

Eleven orphans
(7 under 13
years, youngest
being 8 months
Creswell
Tom Rowe (46) old. Their mother
Terrace
died a few
months ago).

Mathew Newton
Carn Bosavern Widow
(61)

Peter Branwell Chapel Street,

Widow
(38) St Just

Thomas
Carnyorth
Branwell (60)
 Sampson
Chapel Road, St
Osborne, (48)
Just
single

Widow + 2
Hy. Andrews Nancherrow-
Nancherrow-
children (1 under
(46) Terrace, St Just
16)

Wm. E. Waters, Chapel Street,

Sister
(31) single St Just

John T. Angwin Regent-

Regent-Terrace, Widow + 2 adult
(61) St. Just children

William Henry Bosorn-

Bosorn-road, St. Widow + 2
Tregear (57) Just Children under16

S. J. Brewer, Church Sq., St.

(18) single Just

Widow + 7
John Tonkin
Tonkin
Boscean children 3
(52)
dependant

Widow + 7
Geo. H. Eddy Bosorne-
Bosorne-road,
children 6 under
(45) St. Just
16

Widow + 6
Ben Hocking Kelynack Moor,
children all under
(43) St Just
16

Widow + 2
Jas. Maddern
Carn Bosavern children 1 under
(47)
16

Widow + 2
Wm. J. Murley Tregaseal, St
Children under
(29) Just
16

Nicholas J. Chapel Street, Widow + 1 child

Mathews (36) St Just under 16

John Wearne Bosorne Fields, Widow + 3

(29) St Just children under 16

John Ellis, (34) South Place, St

single Just

William. Henry. Chapel-

Chapel-street, 4 children 2
Ellis (47) St Just under 16

Edwin F. Prince's street,

Widow
Pascoe (22) St Just

James H Oats, South Place, St

Widowed-
Widowed-mother
(39) single Just

Leonard
Nancherrow-
Nancherrow-
Semmens, (25)
Terrace. St Just
single

MEN WHO WERE INJURED

NAME AGE

Lionel Angwin 27

Thomas Angwin 32

Sydney Branwell 20

Sydney Dennis 22

C.S.Freestone 24

Josh Hocking 32

J.H.Johns 25

W.R.Lawry 14

Thomas Maddern 45

Martin Morrish 45

A Nankervis 19
 W.J.Nicholas 19

Thomas Ninnis 30

William Rickard 41

John Semmens 15

Gilbert Semmens 25

Joseph Semmens 56